Has anyone played #2 yet?

[David Harshbarger]

Don, they have a nice site dedicated to the renovation.

On the fact sheet, http://pinehurstnumber2.com/MoreInformation_FactSheet.php they say the grass outside the watering lines will be distressed turf.

Dave

[Steve Kline]

There are photos on gca that show where the sinlg ow irrigation lines were installed. You can even see it in the photo of the 18th in Tom's video.

[Don_Mahaffey]

Believe me I'm all for using less water. Anyone who has played my course knows I like a dry golf course. I also agree with letting the edges cook when its dry, but really, one single row down the middle?
I'd actually be surprised if that's the best way to save water, but if you all say that's what they did then I'll take my crow medium rare.

(I still think I could find a few heads off to the sides of the single rows on the larger holes and a few less heads on a par 3 so I'm not convinced just yet)

[jeffwarne]

Believe me I'm all for using less water. Anyone who has played my course knows I like a dry golf course. I also agree with letting the edges cook when its dry, but really, one single row down the middle?
I'd actually be surprised if that's the best way to save water, but if you all say that's what they did then I'll take my crow medium rare.

(I still think I could find a few heads off to the sides of the single rows on the larger holes and a few less heads on a par 3 so I'm not convinced just yet)

If true, a lot of irrigation salesman just shuddered,

[MikeJones]

Here's a slideshow of a bunch of photos my friend Don Ward took when he was there a week or so ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CJj4J6qJZc

[Stephen Britton]

Wonder how everything will hold up with cart traffic?

[Mark Saltzman]

I thought they didn't allow carts on the fairways at no.2.  Every time I've been there it was CPO.

Mark

[Steve Kline]

It is always cart path only on #2.

[Brock Peyer]

The video is excellent, I am tempted to schedule a trip.

[Mark Johnson]

phenomenal video.  thanks for sharing.

quick question for those you who have played..   Is this course unplayable now for anyone with a handicap over 18?  Thinking of playing with my father, but from the video it just looks like way too much golf course

[Andrew Lewis]

I played #2 last week and absolutely loved it. 

The new width really brings out the real strategic challenge of the greens.  There are definitely right and wrong sides of the fairway for approaches, depending on the pin placement, and the challenge off the tee has clearly moved from "can I hit that thin ribbon of fairway to avoid the rough" to "can I hit the proper side of the fairway to attack today's pin."  That most certainly is a good thing.

In addition, the hardpan/scrub is wonderful.  I had everything from clean lies (like hitting from fairway), soft lies (like hitting from a bunker), lies with my ball buried in wispy grass (at least a half-shot penalty) and everything in-between.

And in response to Mark Johnson's question, I'd say that the course is infinitely more playable for higher-handicappers now than before.  My wife (who carries a high-20's index) found the course very playable and a lot of fun.  Her good drives and shots in the fairway were rewarded with more width and roll.  And her errant shots were punished only with random lies in the hardpan -- which she definitely preferred to thick, nasty bermuda rough.

I'm sure that Brad Klein's piece in Golfweek will offer all the dissection of before/after and pro/con that we will need, so I'll stop there and share a few pictures that hopefully illustrate the changes.  Yardages noted are from the blue tees, 6930 yards on the card.


Hole 3 (Par 4, 350 yards) -- tee shot




Hole 3 -- from right side




Hole 3 -- bunker detail




Hole 4 (Par 5, 507 yards) -- tee shot, with Bill Coore and associate inspecting their handiwork!




Hole 5 (Par 4, 436 yards) -- from around 125 yards out, with third green in background




Hole 6 (Par 3, 204 yards)




Hole 9 (Par 3, 174 yards)




Hole 13 (Par 4, 375 yards)




Hole 13 -- from right side




Hole 13 -- approach




Hole 13 -- bunker detail




Hole 14 (Par 4, 438 yards) -- tee shot




Hole 14 -- left side




Hole 16 (Par 5, 511 yards) -- from around 125 yards out on right side of fairway




Hole 16 -- bunker detail




Hole 17 (Par 3, 186 yards) -- tee shot




Hole 18 (Par 4, 415 yards) -- tee shot




Hole 18 -- bunker detail

[PCCraig]

Re: Andrew's photos

WOW!

Thanks for posting. The new style has given the course an amazing layered look. Interesting to literally see the center irrigation line running down each hole.

I'm planning on being down there this fall and I'm looking forward to seeing the course in person.

[Jim Nugent]

Does #2 now look/play like it did in Ross' day? 

[David_Madison]

The course's esthetics likely are similar, and broadly or conceptually it probably is similar, but a lot of the specific shotmaking requirements would have to be different. The greens are now more elevated and the roll-offs more severe. The fairway bunkering is probably more severe now, and in some cases much different from what there used to be. For example, the complex of bunkers on the inside corner of the 7th hole is definitely wilder. And the two fairway bunkers on the left side of the second hole have been replaced by a running complex of bunkers and waste area down the far-left side, with the OB just to their left. And tees are different, not just in length (which might help equal things out) but also some angles. The new tee on #7, for example, is not just deeper but also pushed to the right, so there is little choice but to hit out to a lay-up (unless you can hit a massively long hard fade/slice.)

[Carl Rogers]

The "look" is terrific. 

Has the sprinkler system been re-worked or the controls re-programmed?

It seems to me to require a different maintenance and operational mind set than the typical.  Will it require the same level of effort from personnel, equipment, etc.?  If the "natural" areas are to remain as they are on re-opening day, won't they have just have to leave them alone?  Won't that create its own challenges in a 4 star resort setting?

[Michael Dugger]

It's simply marvelous.  Some of the best integration of new vs old ever done.

C & C should take a bow, not many firms could have pulled this off quite as well.

[Steve Kline]

Just got back from playing #2 today. IT IS FREAKING FANTASTIC! The course has so much texture, appeal to the eye, and much greater strategic interest. I did not find the course any harder. And, the higher handicaps I played with, several in the 20-30 range, did not find the course any harder either. Not overseeding has definitely made a diffrence as the fairways were firmer (and better to play off of) than I have seen them in years, even after sveral days of very good rain right before I played. The greens were sodded but rolled really well, although a bit slower than they will likely keep them.  I cannot sing the praises of this restoration enough. To have a course without any rough is just amazing.

A friend took about 50 pictures and I will work on posting them with more detailed thoughts on the course later this weekend.

[Ronald Montesano]

Freaking Fantastic, indeed!!


PH#2 thinks so much of this forum, they actually linked a Facebook status update moments ago to this thread.

[Howard Riefs]

Golf Digest's Matt Ginella weighs in on the renovations at No. 2:

"They took a top 10 public course in the country -- one of the most unique golf experiences in the world -- and by going back to the way it used to be, they made it better."

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-courses/blogs/wheres-matty-g/2011/04/playing-the-new-pinehurst-no-2.html#entry-more

[Bruce Wellmon]

On a mid 40 degree windy Friday the 13th, I finally played #2, post changes. My last round was probably 2003 or 2004.
We were playing the white tees.
The difficulty of the tee shot has gone up greatly.  We played the day after a good rain. The fairways were firm and fast. I had several run throughs into the sand areas, played as waste bunkers. I never was in a wire grass "clump," but my angle of play or stance was greatly affected. Some sand areas were softer, some more hard pan.  Visually it is more intimidating off the tee as well and, I thought, very narrow in places.  On 18, perhaps it was the new angle off the tee.
It is fantastic piece of work.
The complex of bunkers on the inside corner of the 7th hole